Charlie Villanueva says a former teammate at UConn conned him out of money. / Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

by James Jahnke, USA TODAY Sports

by James Jahnke, USA TODAY Sports

Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva was in court in Trenton, N.J., on Tuesday, testifying that a fellow former Connecticut basketball star had swindled him out of $250,000, according to the Trentonian.

Tate George, who hit a memorable buzzer beater for UConn to defeat Clemson in the 1990 NCAA tournament, is being prosecuted in federal court for wire fraud for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme related to a real estate development in Bridgeport, Conn.

Villanueva testified that he was promised a $37,500 profit from his quarter-million-dollar investment, plus 2% of the project's gross income for years. He said he never got any money back.

After he testified that the loss of $250,000 "hurt" him, Villanueva told the Trentonian on the way out of the courthouse that it hurt him personally to be conned by a fellow UConn athlete.

"And it's $250,000!" he told the paper. "That could have gone to my son's education."